Below is my list of 52 books (which turned into 61 as I added new books along the way) that I set a goal to read and review in 2014. Drive - Daniel Pink - next one cued up on Audible Audio Programs to Listen or Re-Listen to in 2014 46. MORE
Do you have to reproduce paper forms or software screens on PowerPoint slides? This is common for training. For example, one of my clients created a training session to help K-12 school administrators complete important forms for the state Department of Education. MORE
The audience is seated. The lights dim and the room quiets. All eyes are on the dais. All too often, these are the words that are heard next: “Hi, thank you for having me. It is an honor to be here with you today. My name is __, and I am going to be speaking to you today about _.”. MORE
If you’re a trainer or teacher, the title of this blog post if an obvious statement for you. But if you do more persuasive presentations, it may not be obvious. MORE
I discovered this fun challenge posted by Téa Silvestre Godfrey on Facebook, to use one of these 50 bizarre stock photos to inspire a blog post title. I couldn''t resist. And then I decided to go a step further and actually write the blog post inspired by the image! MORE
Public speaking expert is a title that carries tremendous weight. Demosthenes, public speaking expert of the 4 th century BC, is one of the legendary Greek orators. Some of his most famous (and my favorite) addresses of his relate to his opposition to King Phillip II of Macedon. Although he passed away in 322 BC, Demosthenes is relevant to 21 st century orators because of his dedication to practice and preparation. Demosthenes’ dream was to be a great orator, but he had speech impediments. MORE
This is a guest post by Mike Parkinson. Mike is an internationally recognized visual communication and presentation expert, trainer, and award-winning author. Over the last 22 years, he created thousands of presentations that results in improved success rates for his clients. MORE
Public speaking for entrepreneurs? Absolutely! The reality is that a presentation, a pitch or “casual” conversations about your company all qualify as examples of public speaking. When I ask entrepreneurs about public speaking, I often hear “I don’t have to give speeches.”. There are 3 universal ideas every entrepreneur should remember while pitching their startup: 1) You are Presenting for Your Audience, not Yourself. MORE
I see lots of messy presentations when I work with my clients. That’s why they come to me for help.) One of the areas that is often a disaster is the slide master. MORE
You’ve engaged your audience from the beginning of your presentation. They nodded as you delivered your message. Their eyes were locked as you wove through a carefully crafted medley of stories, anecdotes and analogies, all supporting your message. MORE
The Irish Times has a good, short piece on The Moth , the not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. MORE
Via ABC News By now, you''ve probably seen the short video of Michael Bay walking off the stage at Samsung''s Consumer Electronics Show. In short, the teleprompter stopped working, he got flustered, and took off. MORE
“I know they are watching me tremble and sweat! “Can they see me shake?” ” “I get so blotchy when I am nervous and I know that the audience can tell!” ” I hear these questions and statements on a regular basis. Fear and anxiety before speaking publicly is nearly universal – it targets all of us, at different times and to varying degrees. Most individuals experience some degree of anxiety and/or nervousness prior to presenting. MORE
Many presentations are collaborative efforts and you may have discovered that putting your comments in an email and attaching the latest version of the PowerPoint file gets confusing fast. Here are some problems with that method: There are multiple versions of the file all over the place. MORE
This is a guest post from Brenda Bence , who is a corporate branding and personal branding expert. She wrote this as a tip for Speaker Net News subscribers and gave me permission to reprint it. You can read more about her at www.BrendaBence.com. MORE
A story. Recently, I went to an Internet Marketing conference and met the owner of a company that sells high-end products for marketers. MORE
Today, Sunday, March 23, 2014, The Houston Chronicle Jobs Section is printing an article entitled “Public Speaking an Important Career Tool.” ” This article written by Emilia Benton, a copy editor from the Special Publications of Houston Chronicle Media Group, features some of my ideas about the value of public speaking skills for career development. Benton [.]. MORE
PowerPoint makes simple object rotations very easy. If you don’t need to be precise. You can use an object’s rotation handle to drag an object around its middle. When you like what you see, release the mouse button and you’re done. If you need a common angle. MORE
I''m currently participating in the Bloom Your Online Relationships Challenge , a 30-day free program to encourage relationship-building with our online communities, and today''s challenge dovetails perfectly with a post I''ve been wanting to write. MORE
In September of this year, I was asked back to the TEDxKyoto stage to give a few words regarding tips from storytelling as they relate to modern presentations. The 15-minute talk can be viewed below. The title of the talk is "10 Ways to Make Better Presentations: Lessons from Storytellers." MORE
You''ll see a separate list of our most popular Famous Speech Friday posts for 2014 on Friday. Here''s what you read most in 2014: Talk About the Talk: Caroline Goyder on confident speaking at TEDxBrixton shares the first-person perspective of a speaker I worked with this year. MORE
When you''re using statistics in a presentation, it''s really easy to get caught up in the numbers. And unfortunately, just because those numbers are meaningful to you, it doesn''t mean they''re at all fathomable to your audience. MORE
A website visitor commented, “I find it a challenge to face the public if given an emergency task to address or chair a programme. I do panic and worry. How does one combat this?” ” Last minute presentations are common. MORE
Kyle Ingham is the founder of The Distilled Man, a website that helps men learn essential “gentlemanly” skills. Like knowing how to cook a perfect steak. How to mix a cocktail. Or how to give a toast. MORE
Assefi hosting a session at TEDMED 2014 (Editor''s note: TEDMED director of stage content Nassim Assefi is a doctor, novelist, civic activist, TED Fellow and active member of the TED community. TEDMED 2014 has shown it''s possible when you prioritize it. MORE
I just did a webinar for the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education called “Presentations that Impact Lives.” ” Near the end, I used a slide that summarized a few points about presentation delivery. MORE
It''s the most wonderful time of the year! And it''s also the time of the year, when I update my annual list of speaker gifts, to help you find the best gifts for the speaker in your life -- who might just be you! MORE
This is the first of a two-part report on the September 27th meeting of Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association. On Saturday we heard from two communications experts: Speechwriter Pete Weissman and visual thinking expert David Sibbet. MORE
The United Nations Climate Summit has been meeting in New York this week, drawing a slew of celebrities and heads of state. But the UN wanted the voice of a citizen, rather than a high-powered dignitary, to speak at the summit''s opening. MORE
Photo Credit: Dan Harrelson via Compfight cc A client told me the other day that his wife says he never knows when to shut up. And he recognizes that this is a problem when he speaks. He told me he''s afraid that if he doesn''t give enough information, the audience won''t be as excited as he is. MORE
Let’s say that you’re running a meeting and want to keep everyone on track so that the meeting ends on time. These days, fewer people wear watches. (My My son says that if you wear a watch, it’s a sure sign that you’re over 30!) MORE
If you are any kind of fan of Bill Murray at all, then you will enjoy this interview he did with Howard Stern last week. Murray, who is famously hard to get a hold of, does not do a lot of interviews like this, so it was a rare treat. It''s not a performance. MORE
By Ceem Haidar & Dalia Ghawi. Managing Partners of The Commery. The MENA region is vast, and there are over 20 countries that make up this part of the world. Yet, even with a common denominator present – namely the shared Arabic language – even that was a tough one to overcome. Each country has its own dialect and traditions, even hand gestures that a professional in the public eye must be aware of to not insult anyone. MORE
Sandra Zimmer’s Google+ By Sandra Zimmer 2014 The prevailing model for speaking persuasively is a style of speaking that is enthusiastic, energetic and extraverted. The speaker is asserting a point in hopes to convince the listener to agree. However, this model can be a trap. It puts you in the position of selling. Of course others don’t [.]. MORE
How many times have you held yourself back from doing what you wanted to do because you didn''t want to rock the boat? How many times have you held yourself back because "That''s the way it''s always been done?" How many times have you held yourself back for fear of embarrassment or being ostracized? MORE
Would you like to create shapes like this in PowerPoint? I like them because they look informal, hand drawn. They don’t come with PowerPoint, but you can easily create them using the Bézier Curve (Edit Points) feature. This feature is not well known because it isn’t on the ribbon. MORE
Jeff Hurt is the Executive Vice President, Education and Engagement, at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. In 2012, he was recognized as the PCMA 2011 Educator of the Year. MORE
Here’s a free On Demand archive of certain presentations from the conference. For speechwriters, I highly recommend Nancy Duarte’s talk “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences” and Giovanni Livera‘s “Storyboarding Workshop” Both are listed in the tab for Monday June 30. The Tuesday presentation by Jay Baer on the “Speaker as Media Company” has […]. Speechwriting MORE
by Peter Paskale. Powerful speeches contain powerful content. For that content to shine though, it must be mounted into a powerful structure. Barack Obama’s speech today at the UN General Assembly contained both. MORE
What do Winston Churchill, Warren Buffet and John F. Kennedy have in common? Sure, all three achieved extraordinary success – but all three also suffered from a fear of public speaking. And each one overcame their fears and went on to become gifted speakers. MORE
There are 300 million PowerPoint users in the world and it''s estimated that there are a million presentations happening right now. But most of them are dull or even bad. It''s bizarre, and it can really hurt your career. But there is hope. There is a better way. MORE
I often create a slide that talks about x number of items: 6 tips for stunning slides. 10 ways to organize your time. 5 steps to a slide makeover. When I think how to visualize the concept of such a slide, I often (perhaps lamely) come up with a checklist. MORE
You’ve probably seen videos which are just a series of photos that zoom in or perhaps move a little. You can create this in MovieMaker or a similar low-end video editor but you can also do it in PowerPoint. MORE
2014 Related Topics The Eloquent Woman
DECEMBER 25, 2014
You''ll see a separate list of our most popular Famous Speech Friday posts for 2014 on Friday. Here''s what you read most in 2014: Talk About the Talk: Caroline Goyder on confident speaking at TEDxBrixton shares the first-person perspective of a speaker I worked with this year.
The Eloquent Woman
SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
Assefi hosting a session at TEDMED 2014 (Editor''s note: TEDMED director of stage content Nassim Assefi is a doctor, novelist, civic activist, TED Fellow and active member of the TED community. TEDMED 2014 has shown it''s possible when you prioritize it.
PowerPoint Tips
DECEMBER 15, 2014
This is a guest post by Mike Parkinson. Mike is an internationally recognized visual communication and presentation expert, trainer, and award-winning author. Over the last 22 years, he created thousands of presentations that results in improved success rates for his clients.
Matt Eventoff
MARCH 7, 2014
The audience is seated. The lights dim and the room quiets. All eyes are on the dais. All too often, these are the words that are heard next: “Hi, thank you for having me. It is an honor to be here with you today. My name is __, and I am going to be speaking to you today about _.”.
PowerPoint Tips
SEPTEMBER 20, 2014
This is a guest post from Brenda Bence , who is a corporate branding and personal branding expert. She wrote this as a tip for Speaker Net News subscribers and gave me permission to reprint it. You can read more about her at www.BrendaBence.com.
Matt Eventoff
MARCH 1, 2014
What do Winston Churchill, Warren Buffet and John F. Kennedy have in common? Sure, all three achieved extraordinary success – but all three also suffered from a fear of public speaking. And each one overcame their fears and went on to become gifted speakers.
Matt Eventoff
OCTOBER 8, 2014
Public speaking for entrepreneurs? Absolutely! The reality is that a presentation, a pitch or “casual” conversations about your company all qualify as examples of public speaking. When I ask entrepreneurs about public speaking, I often hear “I don’t have to give speeches.”. There are 3 universal ideas every entrepreneur should remember while pitching their startup: 1) You are Presenting for Your Audience, not Yourself.
Matt Eventoff
MARCH 18, 2014
You’ve engaged your audience from the beginning of your presentation. They nodded as you delivered your message. Their eyes were locked as you wove through a carefully crafted medley of stories, anecdotes and analogies, all supporting your message.
Speak Schmeak
MARCH 28, 2014
There are 300 million PowerPoint users in the world and it''s estimated that there are a million presentations happening right now. But most of them are dull or even bad. It''s bizarre, and it can really hurt your career. But there is hope. There is a better way.
The Eloquent Woman
SEPTEMBER 26, 2014
The United Nations Climate Summit has been meeting in New York this week, drawing a slew of celebrities and heads of state. But the UN wanted the voice of a citizen, rather than a high-powered dignitary, to speak at the summit''s opening.
Speak Schmeak
APRIL 16, 2014
When you''re using statistics in a presentation, it''s really easy to get caught up in the numbers. And unfortunately, just because those numbers are meaningful to you, it doesn''t mean they''re at all fathomable to your audience.
PowerPoint Tips
AUGUST 30, 2014
Would you like to create shapes like this in PowerPoint? I like them because they look informal, hand drawn. They don’t come with PowerPoint, but you can easily create them using the Bézier Curve (Edit Points) feature. This feature is not well known because it isn’t on the ribbon.
Speak Schmeak
DECEMBER 2, 2014
It''s the most wonderful time of the year! And it''s also the time of the year, when I update my annual list of speaker gifts, to help you find the best gifts for the speaker in your life -- who might just be you!
PowerPoint Tips
MARCH 24, 2014
If you’re a trainer or teacher, the title of this blog post if an obvious statement for you. But if you do more persuasive presentations, it may not be obvious.
The Presenter's Blog
SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
by Peter Paskale. Powerful speeches contain powerful content. For that content to shine though, it must be mounted into a powerful structure. Barack Obama’s speech today at the UN General Assembly contained both.
Matt Eventoff
FEBRUARY 6, 2014
By Ceem Haidar & Dalia Ghawi. Managing Partners of The Commery. The MENA region is vast, and there are over 20 countries that make up this part of the world. Yet, even with a common denominator present – namely the shared Arabic language – even that was a tough one to overcome. Each country has its own dialect and traditions, even hand gestures that a professional in the public eye must be aware of to not insult anyone.
Speak Schmeak
JANUARY 7, 2014
Via ABC News By now, you''ve probably seen the short video of Michael Bay walking off the stage at Samsung''s Consumer Electronics Show. In short, the teleprompter stopped working, he got flustered, and took off.
Speak Schmeak
JUNE 24, 2014
How many times have you held yourself back from doing what you wanted to do because you didn''t want to rock the boat? How many times have you held yourself back because "That''s the way it''s always been done?" How many times have you held yourself back for fear of embarrassment or being ostracized?
PowerPoint Tips
AUGUST 18, 2014
A story. Recently, I went to an Internet Marketing conference and met the owner of a company that sells high-end products for marketers.
Speaking Freely
MARCH 22, 2014
Today, Sunday, March 23, 2014, The Houston Chronicle Jobs Section is printing an article entitled “Public Speaking an Important Career Tool.” ” This article written by Emilia Benton, a copy editor from the Special Publications of Houston Chronicle Media Group, features some of my ideas about the value of public speaking skills for career development. Benton [.].
PowerPoint Tips
NOVEMBER 10, 2014
A website visitor commented, “I find it a challenge to face the public if given an emergency task to address or chair a programme. I do panic and worry. How does one combat this?” ” Last minute presentations are common.
Matt Eventoff
APRIL 23, 2014
“I know they are watching me tremble and sweat! “Can they see me shake?” ” “I get so blotchy when I am nervous and I know that the audience can tell!” ” I hear these questions and statements on a regular basis. Fear and anxiety before speaking publicly is nearly universal – it targets all of us, at different times and to varying degrees. Most individuals experience some degree of anxiety and/or nervousness prior to presenting.
PowerPoint Tips
JUNE 22, 2014
I often create a slide that talks about x number of items: 6 tips for stunning slides. 10 ways to organize your time. 5 steps to a slide makeover. When I think how to visualize the concept of such a slide, I often (perhaps lamely) come up with a checklist.
PowerPoint Tips
MAY 4, 2014
Let’s say that you’re running a meeting and want to keep everyone on track so that the meeting ends on time. These days, fewer people wear watches. (My My son says that if you wear a watch, it’s a sure sign that you’re over 30!)
Matt Eventoff
SEPTEMBER 8, 2014
Public speaking expert is a title that carries tremendous weight. Demosthenes, public speaking expert of the 4 th century BC, is one of the legendary Greek orators. Some of his most famous (and my favorite) addresses of his relate to his opposition to King Phillip II of Macedon. Although he passed away in 322 BC, Demosthenes is relevant to 21 st century orators because of his dedication to practice and preparation. Demosthenes’ dream was to be a great orator, but he had speech impediments.
Speak Schmeak
MAY 16, 2014
I discovered this fun challenge posted by Téa Silvestre Godfrey on Facebook, to use one of these 50 bizarre stock photos to inspire a blog post title. I couldn''t resist. And then I decided to go a step further and actually write the blog post inspired by the image!
Ian Griffin - Professionally Speaking
SEPTEMBER 29, 2014
This is the first of a two-part report on the September 27th meeting of Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association. On Saturday we heard from two communications experts: Speechwriter Pete Weissman and visual thinking expert David Sibbet.
PowerPoint Tips
JUNE 1, 2014
I just did a webinar for the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education called “Presentations that Impact Lives.” ” Near the end, I used a slide that summarized a few points about presentation delivery.
PowerPoint Tips
JULY 28, 2014
Many presentations are collaborative efforts and you may have discovered that putting your comments in an email and attaching the latest version of the PowerPoint file gets confusing fast. Here are some problems with that method: There are multiple versions of the file all over the place.
PowerPoint Tips
DECEMBER 1, 2014
I see lots of messy presentations when I work with my clients. That’s why they come to me for help.) One of the areas that is often a disaster is the slide master.
PowerPoint Tips
MARCH 16, 2014
You’ve probably seen videos which are just a series of photos that zoom in or perhaps move a little. You can create this in MovieMaker or a similar low-end video editor but you can also do it in PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Tips
JULY 7, 2014
PowerPoint makes simple object rotations very easy. If you don’t need to be precise. You can use an object’s rotation handle to drag an object around its middle. When you like what you see, release the mouse button and you’re done. If you need a common angle.
PowerPoint Tips
MARCH 2, 2014
Do you have to reproduce paper forms or software screens on PowerPoint slides? This is common for training. For example, one of my clients created a training session to help K-12 school administrators complete important forms for the state Department of Education.
Speak Schmeak
OCTOBER 17, 2014
Photo Credit: Dan Harrelson via Compfight cc A client told me the other day that his wife says he never knows when to shut up. And he recognizes that this is a problem when he speaks. He told me he''s afraid that if he doesn''t give enough information, the audience won''t be as excited as he is.
Presentation Zen
NOVEMBER 5, 2014
In September of this year, I was asked back to the TEDxKyoto stage to give a few words regarding tips from storytelling as they relate to modern presentations. The 15-minute talk can be viewed below. The title of the talk is "10 Ways to Make Better Presentations: Lessons from Storytellers."
Speaking Freely
APRIL 29, 2014
Sandra Zimmer’s Google+ By Sandra Zimmer 2014 The prevailing model for speaking persuasively is a style of speaking that is enthusiastic, energetic and extraverted. The speaker is asserting a point in hopes to convince the listener to agree. However, this model can be a trap. It puts you in the position of selling. Of course others don’t [.].
Presentation Zen
OCTOBER 15, 2014
If you are any kind of fan of Bill Murray at all, then you will enjoy this interview he did with Howard Stern last week. Murray, who is famously hard to get a hold of, does not do a lot of interviews like this, so it was a rare treat. It''s not a performance.
Ian Griffin - Professionally Speaking
JANUARY 6, 2014
Jeff Hurt is the Executive Vice President, Education and Engagement, at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. In 2012, he was recognized as the PCMA 2011 Educator of the Year.
Presentation Zen
AUGUST 25, 2014
The Irish Times has a good, short piece on The Moth , the not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling.
Ian Griffin - Professionally Speaking
SEPTEMBER 18, 2014
Kyle Ingham is the founder of The Distilled Man, a website that helps men learn essential “gentlemanly” skills. Like knowing how to cook a perfect steak. How to mix a cocktail. Or how to give a toast.
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